Agroup of 12 girls from San Fernando High School in California didn’t have to look far to identify a problem they wanted to solve. Their
community had seen a steady rise in homelessness,
with people living on the main thoroughfare, at a
local park, and under bridges. With health and safety
concerns for the homeless in mind, the girls spent
more than a year creating a solar-powered tent,
complete with LED lights, antibacterial UV lights
to sanitize the tent, and a charger for electronic
devices. Because temporary shelters must be removed
from the streets of Los Angeles during the day, the
team designed the tent so it easily collapses into a
backpack.

The project began when Evelyn Gomez, a board
member of DIY Girls (a nonprofit organization
aimed at increasing girls’ interest and success in
STEAM), learned about a funding opportunity from
the Lemelson-MIT Foundation. Gomez visited San
Fernando High School (her alma mater) to recruit
female students interested in invention. With the
guidance of Gomez and San Fernando math teacher
Violet Mardirosian, the resulting all-female team
met to brainstorm an invention that would help the
homeless community members they passed on their
way to school each day.

“People tap into what they know. And this projectis a prime example of that,” said Gomez. “Thesegirls saw a problem in their community. And if wehave more young women, more people of color, andmore people from low-income communities who areable to identify a problem within our communities,then we’re going to be better equipped to solve thoseproblems because we’ve lived through them.”In September 2016, the San Fernando teamwas one of 15 U.S. high school groups to receivea $10,000 Lemelson-MIT Foundation grant tosolve a real-world problem through a technologicalinvention. The San Fernando students broke intothree groups to design the tent. One group focusedon structural issues and tested the stability of easilyassembled tents, ultimately deciding to use fiberglassrods that would allow the tent to pop up. AnotherPROBLEM

Three projects show how students can go beyondtextbooks and explore authentic challenges.